Pacific Investment Management Co.'s largest mutual fund sustained about $11.6 billion in withdrawals in January, the 21st straight month of redemptions at the strategy once managed by bond manager William H. Gross.
The withdrawals slowed from $19.4 billion in December, and brought assets in the PIMCO Total Return Fund to $134.6 billion as of Jan. 31, according to data from the firm. Mr. Gross left PIMCO on Sept. 26, prompting a combined $79.9 billion in redemptions from the fund from September through December.
The $1.68 trillion money manager, seeking to reassure investors and stem redemptions, has named top performers to run its largest fund and is pointing to a rebound in returns since Mr. Gross left. Under its new managers, the Total Return Fund advanced 2.98% in the past three months, outperforming 94% of peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The fund has climbed 2.45% so far this year, also topping 94% of similarly managed funds.
“We have great performance to show over the last month and four months,” Scott Mather, who took over management of PIMCO Total Return fund in September along with Mark Kiesel and Mihir Worah, said in an interview. “The real strength of our process is delivering those returns over a market cycle.”
PIMCO Total Return suffered the worst client withdrawals in the history of fund management last year as investors pulled a record $105 billion, a year in which the firm lost both of its co-chief investment officers, Mr. Gross and Mohamed El-Erian. The fund's assets peaked at $293 billion in April 2013, before the Federal Reserve hinted it would unwind U.S. stimulus measures. Since then, assets have plunged by more than half as investors pulled money to protect themselves from rising interest rates and as performance faltered.
